


be afraid of the old: they'll inherit your souls

by handschuhmaus



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Darth Plagueis - James Luceno, The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Angst, F/M, Gen, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 21:56:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20015398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/handschuhmaus/pseuds/handschuhmaus
Summary: "bruh, there was this woman. this hardcore gangster woman. she fuckin wronged me, man. like, just totally destroyed me as a person. this fuckin heartless woman. i used to be a good person but now i’m bad and it’s all a woman’s fault." -Palpatine inEllen's rephrasingof a description ofStar Wars: UnderworldBut the heartless, uninterested woman here might as well be Nastasya Filipovna, and the callow redhead straight from the reannual vineyards of the hills ofSwitzerlandNaboo cannot help but see her fate plainly. Sadly he cannot see his own...(a fusion of Darth Plagueis, The Idiot, and Mortbecause Darth Plagueis IS the Reaper Man, if you ask Ellen)





	be afraid of the old: they'll inherit your souls

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hegodamask(tumblr)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=hegodamask%28tumblr%29).



> // ~~yes i did swap in the big bad for Dostoevsky's examination of a Christ-like figure ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯~~ Parts of Natasya Filipovna's speech at the party ending Part 1 remind me strongly of my own headcanons for young Palpatine so, uh...
> 
> I had to name this for a line of Regina Spektor's "Apres Moi" because Hippolyte also quotes that "Apres moi, le deluge"

It had come to the attention of Palpatine that he could not very well go on without tutelage in the area of those peculiar abilities which endowed him with some dim degree of foreknowledge and the Jedi-like faculty with manipulating objects without touch; although he had learned so little about it that his ventures frequently did not approach those of the youngest children in the Jedi creche, even if not for lack of ability, he could not seem to learn further in his present situation. So it was that he finally made good on the medallion of aurodium left him by a Muun Magister, and made his way to Muunilinst.

There was a Bith in the shuttle compartment, who began to stare (at least so it seemed to him) at the redhaired youth. "Are you cold?" he asked, in an emotionless voice.

"Yes," Palpatine admitted through gritted teeth; he had not planned for the chill of space travel, nor the fact that the city to which he was headed lay within a few dozen latitudinal degrees of one of Muunilinst's poles. 

"What brings you to Muunilinst?" this stranger asked, again as if the normal civilities of small talk were a not-quite-careless recitation learned off by heart.

"I wish to contact a certain Muun," Palpatine said evasively, a certain level of internal nervousness accompanying the statement.

The Bith responded carelessly, "Well. It's the place to do that."

He pressed forward, rather carelessly, but it was that or stay completely silent and risk having no information; he was not certain if information terminals would be accessible to offworlders, or provide Basic-language access. "A Magister Hego Damask."

"Oh. Damask," the stranger repeated, with something that was not quite disinterest. In fact, if there had been any substance to the utterance, Palpatine would have thought he was lying about _something_. "You can call me Gwidere." 

A droid which had been affixed to a charging port in the front of the shuttle's passenger compartment whirled round. "Magister Damask! I could find information on him!" 

Inwardly, the Naboo youth weighed the risk of querying these sources about his once contact, whose interest in him had seemed largely thwarted. Would five years have changed the Muun's mind? What _would_ Damask do if he know Palpatine were coming? 

"No need," Gwidere said, more solicitously than any other thing he had said or done in the course of their trip together. 

"What brings you to Muunilinst?" Palpatine asked, in his best imitation of Cosinga.

"Business, and pleasure as well." 

"Gwidere?" the droid asked, overly eager. "Not Gwidere Nome." 

"The same," the Bith said with a wry tone Palpatine might have taken himself--but was uncertain in this case of the meaning.

If the droid had been a breathing being, it might have inflated its chest, so proud was it to declare "Your inheritance is being managed by--"

Gwidere interrupted it. "And I managed to anger him. The matter of Talia." 

"Talia?" Palpatine repeated. The name meant nothing to him, and yet he had the pressing ...call it intuition, an intuition that had rarely failed him, perhaps one related to the Jedi (and Sith) arts, that whoever this was was important.

"Damask's ...ward, in fact. _Beautiful._ " 

"His ward is a Bith?" Palpatine wanted to know purely for clarity; he was not quite _surprised_ , per se, that Plagueis might have dealings with other groups besides his own people and humans.

"A Twi'lek," corrected the Bith, and that simple phrase had something between intent lust and a dangerous contempt in it. 

"He thinks to make her his wife, to keep her, and I could not resist her--so much so that I gave her a dancing gown." Gwidere moved on to relating this in a dreamy voice. Despite the fact that there was little reason for this to concern him, Palpatine took note of what little he was being told of Talia.

"Out of your inheritance," supplied the droid.

"Well, yes. Unfortunately, that quite upset Hego." There was nothing in his voice that should have made Palpatine additionally wary, but he did not quite like that this Bith was so familiar with Plagueis. He was certain Gwidere did not like him--but then the tone for the final stop sounded and the Bith continued. "Come look me up sometime, human. You fascinate me."

"Er--perhaps," Palpatine agreed, taken mostly aback by the offer. At this point--if this Talia was Damask's ward, and Nome as interested as he sounded, he was not sure he could avoid the Bith. But it was more important by far that he contact Plagueis, his only contact for some sort of Sith training.

**Author's Note:**

> ~~so much for finishing _The Idiot_ before writing this, but...~~


End file.
